After experiencing the effects of contemplative practice and contemplative living, our evangelistic impulse will likely take over as we feel compelled to share the gifts we have received from our practice. How frustrating, then, when we encounter someone who greets our enthusiasm for practice with suspicion, or even hostility. But however frustrating it may be, it’s in times like these where the rubber of our practice meets the road of the circumstances in which we find ourselves. When we do encounter someone who takes a defensive posture toward the contemplative practice or lifestyle, we should approach them, and the Presence of God within them, the same way as we approach our encounters with God in our practice: we should welcome the other if they come, whenever they come, and however they come. We should have no expectations for how or on what timetable the fruits of our encounter will blossom, for those we encounter or for ourselves. Above all, we should remember that a contemplative encounter is a meeting heart to heart and being to being. While it may be tempting to argue the merits of contemplative practice from our headspace (and while that may well be a way to open the door for some), that’s never where full transformation finally happens. When we encounter resistance to the new thing God is doing in us, we must be true to our contemplative call: welcoming, inviting, and entrusting all else to Divine Love!